There seemed to have been a dodgy batch if you ask me, because it was the rachet/bearing race that was cracking on a lot of them. Mine is one of the older ones so it's apparantly OK.
Tensile, mines been absolutely spot on, no compaints at all! I cleaned it out when it was a year old, it's just got WD40 in now, it'll be two this christmas!
I'd say you can't have a bike that will do both, I tried for a year with my Scott YZ0, they're just terrible for trials. If you want to do trials more than dirt jumping, then I'd say to get a trials bike.
If you ask me, those are as close as possible without infriging on the patent. Possibly that's a good thing? they might be lighter or have different geo, but look at the dropouts and the cnc'd bits behind the bb.
Pfft, who told you that? The new Kots (07 and onwards), are stronger I believe. I think I remember Uncle Tart saying that it has an extra gusset on one of the chain stays. Anyway, everyone knows that dual disc riders are really smooth and therefore, won't snap it.
If your after a frame with similar geo to the A1, but with a disc mount, have a look at Kots and Simtras. I think they are pretty close. Looks cool, it's a nice mix of retro and bang up to date, I really like it.
My mate has a Mono, the number of engagements isn't brilliant, but once you get used to it, you can easily live with it. If you want my advice, try and get your hands on a second hand Pro II. Although the Mono/XC will be fine, Pro IIs are better.
Put this code instead of the HTML embeddage you've got up there. [youtube]m5k0-LyPOPM[/youtube] Riding was good, but that song made me quit it half way through, sorry.